Earned Leave - No Limit of 300 days?
THE Government employees are entitled to 30 days of Earned Leave in a year and when they retire, they are entitled to encash a maximum of 300 days of leave. Whenever the leave credit exceeds 300 days, the excess leave lapses. This lapsing was challenged by a retired Haryana Government employee in the High Court.
In a recent judgement, the High Court observed,
If an employee is entitled to leave encashment for maximum limit of 300 days, that does not mean that the accumulated un-utilized leave is to be reduced to 300 days, if it exceeds the said maximum limit of 300 days. The earned leave will continue to accumulate till the retirement of the petitioners and the petitioners are to be granted the maximum benefit of 300 days, as stated in the rules.
The High Court ordered the Government to release the arrears of leave encashment payment along with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of retirement till payment.
The High Court also ordered that the Government should hold an inquiry and fix the responsibility as to who hasdone the wrong calculations and take follow up action against the delinquent official for causing harassment to the petitioners and dragging the respondent-department to the Court, resulting in un-necessary expenses and wastage of time of the Court.
An IRS officer tells me this judgement will have far reaching consequences right across the labour field and perhaps will also be applicable for Central Government employees.